The Bet
by bob-the-blue
Summary: Complete. AU. One Shot. Harry thinks he can do things better the Dark Lord, and put his money where his mouth is, so to speak. Please Read and Review


**A/N: Yes, I'm well aware that I haven't updated anything in awhile. I plan to soon, I hope. Anyway, this story popped into my head, and I decided I had to write it. Hope its good.**

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**The Bet**

It was the summer after 5th year. Harry Potter lay in his small bedroom at Number 4 surrounded by books. Unlike so many other stories that start out this way, none of these books were magical in nature. Most of these books were history and political science books.

Yes, Harry was grieving his lost Godfather, but he figured that Sirius wouldn't want him moping around like a pussy. So, he came up with a plan, and by god he was going to follow through with it. The rough outline of it started forming in Harry's head on the ride home from the train station. He realized that he would need to do a lot of research and take some dangerous risks.

Dangerous risks, Harry had been taking those all of his life. From the early days of telling his cousin that Sea world called, to his adventures at Hogwarts. Everything on that spectrum was dangerous is some way.

Deciding to take his first dangerous risk of his plan, Harry got up from his studying, and walked over to his owl Hedwig. He attached a letter to her leg. Hedwig gave him a very odd look, as if asking 'are you brain dead?'

"I know what I'm doing girl. Now you be careful." Hedwig took off out the window.

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The following day found Harry eating at a small fish and chips stand not to far from his relative's house. He was lucky that the space outside the door smelled of booze. That meant that Dung had been passed out, and wouldn't bother Harry.

As Harry sat and ate his food, a dark figure approached. Oh sure, he was dressed sharply in a black business suit, but you could tell that this man just oozed evil. He took a seat across from Harry.

"Potter. I was quite surprised when I got your letter." Said the man.

"Tom. Thank you for coming. You're looking….good. Huh, I never would have pictured you in a suit."

"Don't call me that filthy name. And I'm only wearing this to blend in. I figured you didn't want to cause a scene."

"Thanks. What would you prefer me to call you? I was wondering about that the other day when I was sitting on the toilet. You hate you birth name, I'm not about to call you 'my lord' like your Death Nibblers do, and all the other things people call you would be stupid to refer to you in person."

The Dark Lord gave a slight chuckle at that. "Yes, well, as you can imagine, I don't get addressed by many people besides my loyal followers. All I get is 'please, don't kill me' and 'you dirty so and so'. Fill in the so and so with whatever you want. I've heard them all."

"I'm sorry." The older man raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"If all the conversation you have is from your 'loyal followers', you must really lack from any intelligent conversation. And as much as I hate you, I respect that fact that you are far from stupid."

"Enough pleasentries. Why am I hear? You're the one who called 'parlay'."

"Yes. The short version is, I'm hear to offer you an interesting wager. A bet if you will."

"I'll admit I didn't see that coming. But you have my attention."

"I was sitting in the car on my way home from another horrible year at school, thanks for that by the way, and I was thinking about your tactics in your quest for power."

"Think you can do better?"

"Actually, yes. And that's the whole reason for being here. I think that I can successfully take over the Wizarding world in a much more efficient and timely manner then you've displayed. Now, I know that's not your only goal. You have your whole power trip in general, plus your fear of death to overcome and all that bullshit."

"So you're saying you can accomplish what I cannot? If you were any other person, I'd strike you down dead for such imputence. But, as you're protected under parlay, I won't. What exactly are your terms for this 'bet'?"

"I get a certain amount of time to implement any plans I may have, and in the mean time, you, for lack of a better word, take a nice long vacation. You're followers also become inactive. Some can disappear with you, others don't have to. Take Bella, and go find a nice beach. I do ask that those that want to stick around don't get in my way."

"What are the stakes? What do you want besides the obvious ruling the world? And what do I get if you don't succeed?"

"If I fail, I step aside, and you resume your own bid for power. If I don't do it, you know that the system is going to be in shambles, and ripe for the picking."

"Makes sense. And if you do win?"

"You retire permanently. All your Death Eaters are either disarmed, or proven not to be a threat. Also, I want an apology for killing my parents, in writing."

"I assume then, that either way, after whatever period of time we agree on, we're out of each other's hair? I find that hard to believe with our history."

"OK then, as a token of faith, how about I paraphrase the prophecy for you?"

"You know the prophecy?"

"Albus told me. It pretty much boils down to I'm the only one who can kill you, and visa versa. I figure if we agree to leave each other alone, we'll both be better for it. And if you agree to this wager, at least one of us will be happy in the end, if not both of us."

The two of them sat there in silence for a few minutes. The man once known as Tom Riddle took in what he was just told.

"Would you really leave if you lost?"

"If I live through it, yeah. The whole reason for me wanting to 'take over the world' is cause I find it to be too messed up. It needs to be changed for the better. As it is, it's hardly worth even saving."

"As honorable and good intentioned as that is, I can understand your point of view. Alright, I think I can agree to this. The only thing we have to agree on is how long do you have?"

"I was thinking till my 30th birthday?"

"20."

"25."

"Deal. That gives you ten years."

"And I won't hear a peep out of you for the next ten years? I'll be left to my own devices?"

"You have my word. I think I'll take your suggestion, and find myself a nice island to live on for the next couple years."

"Huh, I would have figured you would travel the world, learning more dark magic."

"Harry, I spent 13 years as a spirit. I needs to get me laid."

"Ok, that's a mental image I so did not need."

"What can I say? The only thing that's kept me from anything like that is keeping busy with my quest for power. If I'm going to take a break from that, might as well lose my virginity, right?"

"I guess so."

The two of them stood up.

"Well Mr. Potter, I shall see you on your 25th birthday. Either way."

"See you then."

The Dark Lord Voldemort strode off.

As soon as he was out of view, Harry rushed over to the nearest garbage and emptied his stomach.

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A week after making a bet with his enemy, Harry Potter walked into Gringotts. He was implementing the next part of his plan.

Harry approached the nearest teller.

"Excuse me, my name is Harry Potter…" He was interrupted by the goblin.

"About time. The president of the bank has been waiting for you to come in. Through there." The goblin pointed a long finger to Harry's right. Harry walked down a very impressive hallway. He came to the end, where there was a door that read 'President' on it.

Harry knocked on the door. The door opened on its own.

Entering, Harry saw what he assumed was an elder Goblin sitting behind a rich looking desk.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. Thank you for joining me."

"Sir? I did not know you were expecting me."

"You didn't get my letter pertaining to the estate of your godfather?"

"No sir."

"Huh." The goblin just shrugged. "Oh well. With out going into too much detail, he left you everything. You're now our most wealthy client."

"Um….yay?"

"Most would be a little bit more excited about such news."

"In all honesty, I didn't even think Sirius would leave me anything."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you sir, but not about Sirius." The goblin raised its eyebrow.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well sir, I intend to take over the Wizarding world, and was wondering if the goblin nation was interested in an alliance."

The old Goblin fell our of his chair laughing. This was the first time a human had ever witnessed such a thing, not that Harry knew that of course.

"Mr. Potter, are you serious? And even if you were, why should we?"

Harry pulled a few pieces of paper out of his pocket and handed it over to the Goblin. The goblin took it and started reading it over.

"This isn't a joke? You truly intend on doing it like this?"

"Yes sir."

"How much do you know about how the goblin political system works?"

"Almost nothing sir."

"Our society is based on economics. There is only one Goblin higher up then I. I hold that much clout. And he listens to me. He's my brother. If you swear an oath, that you will follow through with this, I can promise the support of the Goblin Nation."

Harry raised his wand. "I, Harry James Potter, do so swear on my magic, that I intend to follow through with the plan in which you just read to the best of my abilities. If I succeed, I will implement what you read." Harry's wand glowed.

"You have yourself some powerful allies son. You are aware that this might be a bit tricky, what with a dark lord running around."

"He was the first person I took care of. He's on vacation." The goblin started laughing again.

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The train ride back to Hogwarts was uneventful. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna all shared a cabin. They caught up on what they did over the summer, Harry being a little vague. Then silence settled in.

Harry broke the silence with "So, I've decided to become a Dark Lord." Instantly all of his friends were yelling. They weren't taking it very well.

"Hold on, let me explain. I've decided that the wizarding world needs a change, for the better. Its too corrupt, and has more problems then my cousin has chins. So, I'm going to take over the Wizarding world, and force it to change."

"But Harry, you can't just decide to what's best for everyone. That would make you a dictator." Hermione said. The others voicing their agreements with her.

"Well, I am slightly basing my methods on Hitler's. Oh, and Palpatine's too, but not so drawn out." The purebloods had no idea what he was talking about. "Here, read this." Harry pulled out the pieces of paper again, and turned them over to his friends.

Hermione was the only one who truly understood what they said. Ron was clueless. Luna could careless really. Neville and Ginny had an idea.

"Harry, you're my best mate, I'm with you." Said Ron. "You'll just have to explain this to me in smaller words sometime."

Harry chuckled. "Sure. So, what do you think Hermione?"

"I hate to say it, but I agree with everything you have written down. My only question is, how are you going to go about it exactly? And what do you need us to do?"

Harry just grinned, "I thought you'd never ask."

The rest of the train ride was spent with Harry going over his plans with his friends. Ron was a brilliant strategist in his own right, and he was impressed beyond measure with his best mate.

In the end, they all agreed, and basically became Harry's 'inner circle'.

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Without Voldemort causing any kind of distraction, the next two years went by pretty quietly. A good number of the Death Eaters even pulled their kids out of school. Mostly from Slytherin. This made it even better.

Harry was still busy those next two years. He spent most of his spare time at school building up a following. He preached about the unfairness of the current Ministry, and how prejudiced it was. How so many laws put the muggle borns at a disadvantage in the world after school.

In his sixth year, Harry met one Horrace Slughorn, and took to him like a fish to water. Personally, Harry really didn't like the man too much. But he used him for his connections. Harry really let his Slytherin side out.

Harry was a shoe in for Head boy his seventh year. He had built up so many connections, and was well liked by a good number of people.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore and the Ministry were at a lose for why the Dark Lord was so quiet. For the first year and a half, they all thought he was biding his time. But as Harry's graduation came and went, without incident, it became clear something was up.

Without a Dark Lord in the shadows, or so it seemed, the people started to relax. Fudge was barely able to keep himself in office. He had to weasel his way through so many hoops. Of course, he was as incompetent as ever, which suited Harry just fine.

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Six months after graduating from Hogwarts, Harry Potter called a press conference.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming. I have an announcement to make." Rita Skeeter jumped up.

"Finally going to admit that you killed You Know Who Harry?"

"No, Rita, I am not. I'm not here to talk about him. I'm here today, because of a corrupt government. For too long, has it not done its job. It openly discriminates against those who should be considered equals. The system, as it currently stands, is built in such a way, that the purebloods control everything, and the half bloods and muggle borns have to 'just get by'. So, today, I am challenging Cornelius Fudge for the office of Minister of Magic."

There was an uproar. The reporters were not expecting anything like this. Harry Potter, the boy who lived, was barely out of Hogwarts. Yet, he was the most famous and well like wizard in Britain. Normally, the newspapers would laugh at someone so young running. But, as public opinions went, the boy had a chance. And none of them were going to be 'on the losing side' of this.

They all rushed off to write their articles about how there was about to be a new Minister.

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It was well known that Harry Potter was a very well like wizard. What was not as well known, was that Harry had a network of followers set up. He had people planted all over the place, in key positions. And they were all loyal to him. On top of that, he was having his own private army being trained. He started this in his sixth year. It wasn't hard to alter the D.A.

Harry himself didn't have to do any mud slinging at Fudge. He let others do it for him. Student after student came forward, and told about their experiences under Umbridge's 'rule'. Also, there were a number of 'unofficial' financial reports leaked from the bank. These spelled out the mass corruption of the minister. This was of course, Harry's goblin friends helping him out.

It wasn't a surprise, that Harry Potter was sworn in to the office of Minister of Magic just five months before his 19th birthday.

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Harry spent the first couple of months in office learning how things ran. He made a number of decisions that affected the whole wizarding world, but he felt that they were for the best.

The next part of his grand plan needed to be implemented, and in order for this part to work, he needed to remove certain people from the picture. Number one on that list was Albus Dumbledore.

In his quest for power, one thing Harry strived for, was completing this without having to kill anyone. Some of his lieutenants argued that they needed to kill Dumbledore, Harry came up with an even better idea.

Harry had Dumbledore locked away in an asylum. It wasn't too much of a stretch to convince people that he was crazy. People had been saying it for years. So, with a heavy heart, Harry had him committed. Of course, the people who ran the special hospital were in the know, and completely loyal to Harry.

With everything in place, Harry had to make his next big move.

Less then one year after taking the office of Minister of Magic, Harry made a huge announcement. He absolved the Wizengamot. He declared himself ruler of the Wizarding world. He declared he was going to clean out the Ministry, and completely restructure it.

This was of course, met with some opposition. But those who spoke out about it, were shut up by those loyal to Harry Potter. Harry controlled the presses, so he could do no wrong in their eyes. If you controlled the presses, you controlled the masses. Harry learned that his 5th year.

Now, instead of basking in the joy of having gained mass control of the Wizarding World, Harry got his butt to work. He had always preached equality, and now was the time to put his words to work.

Harry changed his title from 'Minister of Magic' to 'Prime Minister of Human Magicians.' He formally recognized the Goblin Nation as an independent government of the British Ministy.

When he was younger, Harry had read up on how the muggle governments of Great Britain and the United States were ran. He decided to base his new government off of that. He created a law making branch of the government based on congress and parliament. It was to have elected officials made up of not only wizards and witches, but also goblins, and the other organized sentient species. Everyone was considered equal, and had a voice in the government.

The house elves didn't want to be freed, but there were laws passed to make their lives better. Anyone who mistreated their elves lost the right to own house elves, and were penalized. The elves were found a better home.

Harry also instituted an advisory counsel for the Prime minister. It was to include a representative from the muggle government (Harry worked a lot closer with the muggle British government, he found it easier to keep up the Statute of Secrecy that way), a witch or wizard, a goblin, a centaur, and one wild card spot. These positions were to be picked by the Prime minister, but approved by the people they represented.

The courts were set up in a way similar to the muggle world, or at least to the American muggle world. Judges were appointed, and there was a checks and balances system worked out.

Things were not a smooth transition. A lot of old pureblood families resisted the change. But, unfortunately for them, the half bloods and muggle borns out numbered them in the Wizarding world.

But eventually, things settled in, and most people were happy with the changes to the government. Their voices and concerns were being heard, and those in charge were held accountable for their actions. Except for Harry, but in their eyes, he could do no wrong. After all, he brought about this new world for them. This new, better world.

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On Harry's 25 birthday, he celebrated it with friends and family. He was truly happy.

That evening, there was knock on the door to his private study.

"Come in." Harry said. The door opened to a much tanner Lord Voldemort.

"Potter."

"Voldemort. How have you been?"

"The last ten years have treated me well. Not as well as they've treated you though."

"What can I say?"

"That you won?"

"That I did."

"Of course, I could make the argument, that you really didn't win. You're not an absolute ruler."

"And I never wanted to be. I wanted to make the world a better place. And I think that I did. You have to admit, if you had been born in the world as it is, you wouldn't have gone down the path that you did."

"True. And I'm not challenging you for two main reasons."

"And what would those reasons be?"

"You got rid of Dumbledore in a way that I never could have. And, you've build up the wizarding military. They're not just keystone cops anymore."

"I'm glad they meet your approval."

"Well, that, and for some reason, a lot of my formal followers are no longer alive. In all honesty, I don't think I could take you and win."

"Yeah, that wasn't my idea. About your former followers. Ron went on a crusade against Death Eaters. I think it was the way he was raised. Oh, I have something for you." Harry reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a rolled up scroll. He handed it over.

"What's this?"

"A full pardon for Tom Riddle. Everyone who ever knew that Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort are the same person are in the know about our bet, and my wanting to give you that. Consider it a thanks for keeping your word."

"I didn't do it because I wanted a pardon."

"Why did you keep your word anyway? There were plenty of times you could have come in and taken over from me. I've been wondering that for awhile now."

"As hard as it may be for you to contemplate, I am a man of my word."

"True. So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm thinking I'm going to go back to my beach, and my sex babes. You have no idea what I've been up to the last ten years." Actually, Harry had a very good idea. He had spies keep an eye on the Dark Wizard. Though, the reports made him a bit sick.

"I have another idea, if you're interested."

"Another bet?"

"Not really. I talked to Headmaster Lovegood, and if you're interested, he's agreed to hire you on as the DADA teacher." There was a tear in Tom's eye.

"I still can't believe they made your father in law the headmaster. He didn't even teach there."

"Well, after Luna took over the paper, he needed something to do."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why trust me like that?"

"Because I think you've changed."

"Don't turn into Dumbledore on me now Harry."

"Hey, that's not very nice of you." Harry stuck his tongue out at Tom. "Besides, its my own personal opinion you were only evil cause you never got laid. After a ten year orgy, I think you're mellow enough to trust around kids. Just don't try and corrupt them too much. I hear its bad enough with Remus as the transfiguration teacher."

"I think I'll give the Headmaster a call tomorrow."

"You do that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm in for some birthday sex, and I need to stretch first."

The two of them parted ways yet again.

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Over the course of the next few decades, the Wizarding World flourished in a way no one had ever though possible. Technologically, they caught up with the muggle world, thanks to all the muggle borns coming in. Without being so discrimated against, they were able to bring new ideas in, and have them accepted.

Harry served as the Prime Minister of Human Magicians until the age of 75, when he retired. Even though he was the first with that title, he was the leader of the Wizarding World longer then anyone before or after him. Even after his retirement, he still offered advisement to those who came after him.

Tom Riddle finally lifted the curse he had placed on the DADA position so many years before. He served as professor up until his death 25 years after taking the job. Even though the prophecy suggest otherwise, Tom Riddle ended up dying choking on a lemon drop candy. Harry hurt himself laughing at the irony. Tom was also considered the best DADA teacher ever. At least, that's what all of Harry's kids and grandkids had claimed.

Harry himself died at age of 150. He had always wanted to die in bed, surrounded by his family and friends, to go quietly into the next great adventure. Of course, Harry rarely got what he wanted. He did die nn bed, However, it was mid coitus with his wife Luna. And Luna being Luna, put that on his gravestone.

_Here Lies Harry Potter  
The world's most powerful wizard  
Hero  
Savior  
And only failed to pleasure his wife once._

**THE END**

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**A/N: I wrote this all in one sitting. What did you think? Oh, and if anyone was wondering, the pieces of paper towards the beginning were just an outline of what happens later. **

**Yeah, this probably could have been longer, and more in depth. If anyone is interested in expanding this, and writing the 'longer version' , let me know.**


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